


Crash

by alecsangel (angel)



Category: Dark Angel
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-21
Updated: 2003-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-23 23:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel/pseuds/alecsangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Alec has a seizure, he and Max have a weird little talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crash

Alec slid down the wall of his bathroom as his body shook and pounded against the wall. He hoped that Max wasn't home next door to hear it. The walls were thin and it would no doubt be audible to Max. He didn't need her to feel sorry for him or to think of him as weak. Taking a deep breath, he held it, trying to force his body to be still. In the end, he lay on his side, drawing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Alec closed his eyes and hoped the seizure would be over soon.

"Hey, Big Fella," Max said, patting Joshua on the back as she entered the open door of his apartment. He was painting, as usual.

"Little Fella," the transgenic nodded at her and returned to his work.

"Have you seen Alec today? He didn't show for the morning meeting." She asked, getting to the point of her visit since Joshua seemed busy.

"Medium Fella not here." Joshua replied. "Came by yesterday to bring Joshua food."

"What time yesterday?"

"Afternoon. Sun was high in sky." Joshua replied.

Max nodded. "Okay. Well, I'll let you get back to, uh, whatever."

"Bye," Joshua replied distractedly as he threw some red paint on his canvas and started swirling it around with a brush.

Max wandered up the stairs toward her and Alec's floor. She was running out of places to look for him. This so wasn't like him and it was starting to worry her. Ever since the transgenics had taken up residence in Terminal City, Alec had been very trustworthy and dependable. He was always around, always easy to find. But no one had seen him since yesterday afternoon.

Alec heard the knock on his apartment door and started to get up and go answer it. He managed to raise himself into a seated position before falling back onto the bed with a low groan. His muscles were stiff and sore and his body was weak from the night of unrelenting seizures. He'd crawled to his bed in the early morning hours, dragging the trashcan from the bathroom with him in case he got sick while he was in his bed.

"Alec?!" Max called through the door before pressing her ear to it. She heard the sound of his breathing and knew that he was in there. Testing the knob, she found the door unlocked and she slipped inside.

"Alec? I know you're in here." She said, following the sounds of his breathing to his bedroom. "Alright, fine, be that way," she said to the silence.

"Max?" Alec's faint voice finally drifted out to her.

"I'm coming in," she said, alarmed. "You'd better be dressed."

Alec turned his head to look at her when she stepped into his room. He knew he looked bad, and her gasp of shock only confirmed it. He'd stripped off his t-shirt and cargo pants during the night, before the shakes got bad, so he was laying in his black boxers on top of the bed.

Max's eyes took in Alec's frail appearance. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was tussled and slick with sweat. His covers had been kicked to the end of the bed, but he was starting to shiver with cold, a feeling that Max knew well. And she knew what had happened to Alec now.

"Why didn't you call me?" She asked, moving quickly toward the bed and pulling his covers up before she sat down beside him.

"No," he protested, pushing the blankets away.

"Alec, you're shivering," Max replied, taking his hands.

"Don't want to get tangled in them," he explained, looking up at her.

She nodded, her eyes and expression dark with concern. "How long have you been seizing?"

"Continuously last night," he said with a sigh. "A few this morning."

"Why didn't you call me?" She asked again, releasing one of his hands to stroke the messy hair from his forehead.

"Didn't want to bother you," he replied, closing his eyes and turning onto his side, curling up. He was still facing her, and she could tell by the look on his face that he could feel a seizure coming on.

"How much Tryptophan have you taken?" She asked, looking around to see if she could spot a bottle.

"What?" He asked, his voice a little distant as his hands started to shake.

"Alec!" She shook him until he opened his eyes. "Focus. Tryptophan! How much have you had?"

"What's Trypto-whatever?" He asked, clutching both his hands around hers.

"You haven't had any?!" She shouted, causing him to flinch and close his eyes. He shrank away from her. "I'm sorry," she said, her tone turning soothing. "It's okay. Everything's okay."

"Max," Alec whimpered as his entire body started to shake.

"I've got you." She said, squeezing his hand and pulling a bottle out of her pocket. "You've got to swallow some of these pills, okay? Alec? Can you hear me?"

"Pills," he mumbled, confirming that he'd heard her. His head was suddenly thrown back as all his muscles contracted. Tears escaped the corners of his eyes and Max quickly wiped them away.

She waited for him to relax again before forcing his mouth open and shoving two pills toward the back of his throat. "Swallow Alec. C'mon. You can do it. Swallow the pills, please."

He coughed, nearly choking, but managed the swallow the pills.

Max lay down beside him, putting her arms around and stroking his back with one hand and the back of his neck with the other. As she comforted him, she thought about what was happening. Alec didn't know what Tryptophan was. He must have just started having seizures then. Max assumed that Manticore's solution to the shakes had worn off for her partner in crime and that spelled bad news for the other transgenics in TC. She'd have to wait for Alec to respond to the pills before she could talk to him about it. For now, all she could do was comfort him and wait for his seizing to stop.

A few hours later, Alec awoke to find himself in Max's arms. She smiled at him when she looked down to find his hazel eyes wide. "How are you feeling?" she asked softly.

"Are they gone? Did you stop them?" He asked, sounding more like a ten-year-old little boy with the flu than a twenty-year-old soldier.

"Yes," she nodded. "You'll be okay by tomorrow, but you'll need to take it easy for a few days probably. You've been seizing pretty badly for a whole day."

He nodded and raised a shaking hand to her lips before she could start to speak again. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"What do you want to talk about then?" She asked, glad that he was awake and talking with her.

Alec contemplated that for a minute before asking, "Do you think Goofy was a dog or not?"

"What kind of question is that?" She laughed, falling silent for a minute before replying, "A dog. He had the ears."

"What about Joshua? He doesn't have the ears."

"He's more human." Max replied, before firing off a question at him. "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"

"That's a silly question." Alec replied, chuckling. "And I refuse to answer it on behalf of it's obviousness."

"There's no such word as obviousness." Max replied, rolling her eyes at him. "And you have to answer."

"Sure there is such a word. Look it up if you don't believe me." Alec responded, trying to keep her from asking him about the chicken/egg thing again. He really didn't have an answer for that one.

"It's beside the point anyway. You still haven't answered the question." She stared him down, waiting.

"Fine. Uh, the chicken, I suppose." He replied, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to argue with me?"

She scoffed, but blushed. "Not at this time, but I hold the right to argue later, okay?" She smiled when he laughed. "If someone with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is it considered a hostage situation?"

"No, because they don't really have anyone to hold hostage. That's a dumb question," Alec replied.

"They're all dumb questions. You're up." She retorted.

"Hmmm," he muttered, thinking. "What color does a smurf turn when you choke it?"

"What's a smurf?"

"Maxie, Maxie, Maxie, you don't know what a smurf is?!" Alec's jaw dropped in surprise. "You're so televisionally deprived."

"Televisionally is not a word, Alec."

"Sure, it is, your analness." He rolled his eyes.

"Also, not a word," she said, punching his shoulder lightly.

"What are you? A walking dictionary?"

"Better than being a sleeping dictionary."

"That was so corny." Alec laughed despite his words.

"Whatever," Max said with irritation. "Do you want to continue this game or not?"

"Couple more questions," Alec replied, stifling a yawn.

"Okay, fine. If ‘practice makes perfect' but ‘nobody's perfect,' why bother practicing?"

"We're perfect already. We don't have to practice," Alec replied without hesitation.

"We're not perfect," Max argued.

"Well, maybe you're not, but I definitely am."

"Egotistical asshole," Max muttered.

"Max, that hurts," Alec put a hand to his chest and feigned a pained expression.

"Oh, like you don't already know it."

He laughed and nodded, conceding defeat. "Hey, here's a question I've always wondered about. Why do they call the bar Crash?"

"Well, back in the day, there used to be TVs all over the place broadcasting old tapes of bike crashes, since it used to be pretty much just a bike messenger bar. They must have done away with that the summer that I was at Manticore though." Max shrugged, and then adjusted her hold on Alec. He was still laying in her arms, obviously content to stay there for now. "Why don't you get some more sleep?"

"I've been sleeping," he said with a sigh.

"You'll get better faster if you sleep," Max replied and silently added, ‘not to mention how adorable you are when you're sleeping.'

"Fine," he grumbled, snuggling into his pillows and pulling her closer to him. Breathing in her sweet vanilla scent, he drifted quickly into slumber.

Max lay beside him, holding him tightly as he slept. Moonlight was streaming in through the window and illuminating his face. His mask of smart aleck apathy was gone and replaced with the gentle features of a man with so much pain in his life. He almost looked innocent and childish, but Max could see the anguish that he normally hid from her and everyone else. Maybe this night would mark a turning point in their friendship. Maybe he would be able to open up to her now in a way that he never could before. Maybe they could be friends now. Or even, more than that.

~The End


End file.
